TEHRAN-Acclaimed Iranian conductor Ali Rahbari began his China concert tour in Beijing, where he conducted the Beijing Symphony Orchestra on November 17.

The concert was held at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, which is the largest theater complex in Asia, IRNA reported.

The performance included “Peer Gynt Suite” by the Norwegian composer and pianist Edvard Grieg, “Romeo and Juliet Fantasy: Overture” by the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and “Symphony No. 9” by the Austrian composer Franz Schubert.

Continuing his China concert tour, Rahbari will conduct other symphony orchestras in Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Wuhan until mid-December.

Born in Tehran, Rahbari, 76, was trained in Vienna as a pupil of Gottfried von Einem, Hans Swarowsky, and Karl Österreicher. On his return to Iran, when he was only 24 years old, he was appointed director of the Tehran Conservatory of Music and took a leading position in the cultural development of his country.

Early in his conducting career, Rahbari was the recipient of several major awards. In 1977, he won the prestigious Gold Medal at the Concours International de Jeunes Chefs D’Orchestre (The International Contest of Young Conductors) in Besançon, France, following a Silver Medal at the Geneva Conductor’s Competition.

Noticed by the legendary Herbert von Karajan, Rahbari was invited by him to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. After this triumphal debut with the orchestra, further engagements followed in 1980, 1982, and 1984. Karajan also paid him the enormous compliment of asking Rahbari to be his assistant at the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1980.

From this auspicious start, Rahbari's career has blossomed and to date he has conducted more than 120 orchestras around the world, working in most renowned opera houses, national and international scenes such as Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, NHK Tokyo, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic, Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Barcelona City Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the English National Opera.

In 1985, Rahbari was appointed as the Czech Philharmonic’s Permanent Guest Conductor. His achievements brought him the prestigious award of Dvorak Medal for his outstanding work with the Czech Philharmonic. Also from 1985, Rahbari became Principal Guest Conductor with the Belgian Radio and Television Orchestra, Brussels - the "BRTN" - and served as Chief Music Director from 1988 until 1996. It was during his time with the orchestra that he became well-known for his recordings of the standard orchestral repertoire together with operas, contemporary music and choral works and in 1994, he was honored with the Fuga Trophy by the Belgian Composers' Association for his outstanding achievements with the orchestra.

His recordings on Compact Disc alone number more than 250 and some of them were recorded by DISCOVER, NAXOS, and POLYGRAM. Rahbari's recordings of Verdi's and Puccini's operas have brought him international acclaim and recognition and as Chief Music Director of Koch Discover International (which he founded in 1992). He has discovered many young soloists and ensembles, helping them to make recordings and promoting them on the international scene.

From 1997 to 1999, Rahbari was appointed as principal conductor of Zagreb Philharmonic and Virtuosi di Praga. In 2000, he moved to South Spain as he was nominated as Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Malaga Symphony Orchestra and remained in the city until 2004.

Gathering 60 Iranian musicians in 1997 from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States in Bregenz, Rahbari founded the Persian International Philharmonic. The result has been recording of several oriental pieces as Scheherezade from Rimsky Korsakov, Violin Concerto from Aram Khachaturian and Nohe Khan Violin Concerto, Composed by Rahbari at the age of 19, under the direction of Koch Discover International. 

In 2003, Ali Rahbari obtained the Reward of Honor from the City of Malaga for Outstanding Artistic Achievements. The tour in Germany with the Malaga Symphony Orchestra in 2004 through Munich, Friedrichshafen, Düsseldorf, Regensburg, Köln, Braunschweig, etc. was a complete success resulting in standing ovations and excellent reviews in the media.

In 2005, Maestro Rahbari was invited to Iran as the Permanent Conductor of Tehran Symphony Orchestra. His return and performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, after thirty years in the country, become the biggest music event of the past three decades, as well as in the last few years, Maestro Rahbari has been more focused recently on writing new pieces as a composer to add to the repertoire (My Mother Persia Symphonic poems and many more pieces) in parallel to his conducting career, he has been mostly invited to fundamentally new orchestras for them to learn from his experience mostly in Turkey.

Married to a violinist from Croatia, Ali Rahbari is father of five children. Something of a new Renaissance man, he is a passionate artist and has painted portraits of several international music personalities. He is also the avid designer of his charming home outside of Vienna. He Speaks Persian, Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch, German and English.

Ali Rahbari was appointed by Valery Gergiev as permanent guest conductor of Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg since July 2022.

The Beijing Symphony Orchestra was founded in October 1977. In the 1990s, it underwent a significant reform and since then has held annual musical events, with 90-100 concerts given each year. Starting with the classics, the orchestra has performed various musical works, including operatic music, symphonic music, chamber music and contemporary music. It has cooperated with world-renowned maestros, instrumentalists and famous international orchestras to expand its repertoire. 

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), colloquially described as The Giant Egg, is an arts center containing an opera house in Xicheng, Beijing, China. The NCPA is semi-spherical in appearance and contains an opera hall, music hall, theater and art exhibition halls, restaurants, audio shops, and other supporting facilities. The approximate 12,000-square-meter building has aggregate seating for 5,452. 

SS/SAB